Welcome to the February edition of the press and to my new job as club President. My first order of business is to give a very heartfelt thanks to Mark Emiley for his work as club president for the last two years. Mark did an outstanding job and is a tireless supporter of the club. I really appreciated Mark's conscientious support last year in my role as Treasurer. I hope that you'll remember to shake Mark's hand, pat him on the back, and offer him a glass of whatever next time you see him. He deserves the recognition.

As with any club the quality of the experience is influenced completely by the participation of the members. I hope that you'll all take time to participate in club activities this year, and if you haven't been to a club event for awhile you might put a note on the calendar and join us. Last week at the January wine meeting we had a great time evaluating wines and getting tips and insight from our panel of wine professionals. I heard a lot of input, even from "the experts" in the room, that they learned some new perspectives about the making of wine.

This month we are holding a wine testing session with Steve Fosie on Saturday February 16th. Steve's willingness to help us all get better at our craft is a wonderful opportunity and I'm looking forward to the participation of a big group. And don't forget the February 28th Beer Analysis meeting at Pyramid Brewery. If you haven't met me, please come up and say hello.

And just for fun, if you haven't met Mr. Vaynerchuk, check him out at http://tv.winelibrary.com/ Give it a whirl and a sniffy snif, and let me know what your think Cheers - Mick Pegg